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Beta Gamma Sigma honor society welcomes new inductees

Bruce Nelson, former Office Depot chief executive officer, spoke at the ceremony that honored Martha and Spencer Love School of Business students who were selected by the honor society for their distinguished academic performance.

The Elon University Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society chapter inducted 54 undergraduate and 10 graduate students in a ceremony held on May 2, 2017, in the LaRose Digital Theatre.

The 2017 Beta Gamma Sigma inductees.

Beta Gamma Sigma is an international honor society serving businessprograms accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International). Membership in Beta Gamma Sigma is the highest recognition a business student can receive.

The inductees represent the top 10 percent of the junior and senior classes in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, as well as the top 20 percent of the graduating class in the MBA and M.S. in Management programs. This year, the minimum grade point average for a BGS membership invitation was a 3.79 for seniors and 3.82 for juniors.

The ceremony’s keynote speaker and chapter honoree was Bruce Nelson, former chairman of the board of directors and chief executive officer of Office Depot, Inc. Nelson talked to students about ethics in the workplace and the valuable lessons he's learned over the years.

Patty Cox, assistant professor of accounting, received the Beta Gamma Sigma Professor of the Year award during the ceremony. Current BGS members selected the recipient based on the following criteria: encourages and honors high academic achievement by students of business and management; fosters in students an enduring commitment to the founding principles and values of the Society: honor and integrity, pursuit of wisdom, and earnestness; and supports the advancement of business thought and practice to encourage lifelong learning. ​

Cox has served as the Beta Alpha Psi faculty advisor since 2007. Under her leadership, the chapter has achieved “superior” and “gold” statuses by the national office, and was named Student Organization of the Year in the more than 30 members category by the Student Government Association in 2011 and 2015.

Cox joined Elon’s faculty in 1987. During her tenure, she received the Love School of Business Dean’s Awards for Excellence in Service (2012) and Teaching (2007) and the Student Government Association’s Barbara H. Carlton Outstanding Faculty Advisor of the Year award (2011). Cox has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in accounting from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is a certified public accountant in North Carolina.